Sunday, January 13, 2013

When thinking about the sort of post that would generate our
highest volume of views and responses, we would have hoped it would have the
headline, “Caps Win Cup, Cheerless Streaks at Kettler!”, not the post we entered last Friday.

But there it is, an unfortunate product of The Great NHL
Lockout of 2012-2013.

As we noted, we do not have any delusions that one rant is
going to create a groundswell of resentment over what the NHL did over the last
few months.But the comments, e-mails,
and tweets we received in response did suggest that there are more than a few
hockey fans out there who are and remain upset over the behavior of management.

If anything surprised us in the responses it was that there
were so few of a negative nature.The
vast majority of them were of the “me too” variety – fans who had come to
similar conclusions that the business of the NHL was broken, one that seemed interested
only in the commercial aspect of it at the expense of the “relationship” part
of it.To all those who took the time to
respond, whatever your opinion, thank you for your attention.

The problem the NHL has is not one we think a week’s worth
of so-called “appreciation” or a half-season’s worth of “discounts” will
fix.But that is the league’s problem,
not ours.We have severed our business
relationship with the league; that is in the rear-view mirror.

It is time to return to the game.The game itself remains, in our opinion, the
most compelling spectacle in sport.No
other sport combines the speed, strength, endurance, and will that characterize
ice hockey.And it is that to which we
will now return.Besides, the cousins
are getting itchy to get back to blogging about games.

To those who stayed along for the ride during the lockout,
we thank you for your own endurance.For
those who might be coming back after being away, or for those who might have
stopped by out of curiosity after our rant, welcome.It’s time to fire up the TV, pop open a cold
one, and settle in for the thrill ride that is hockey.

The other stuff

Pictures, logos, and the occasional quotes used here are the intellectual property of other folks (unless otherwise noted) of considerably more productive imagination than the author of the original stuff read here, which is our very own.